1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shielding connector which is improved in the terminal treatment of a shielding wire thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a shielding connector, there is known a shielding connector which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-260246 of Heisei. The thus disclosed shielding connector, as shown in FIG. 18, includes a cylindrical-shaped shielding shell c in such a manner as to cover a terminal storage chamber b within a housing a. In the terminal storage chamber b, there can be stored a flat type terminal g which is pressure contacted with a core wire e of a shielding wire d; and, a shell connecting portion i formed in a shell connecting terminal h connected to a braided wire f of the shielding wire d is contacted with the shielding shell c, whereby the core wire e can be shielded both inside and outside the housing a.
In the shell connecting portion i of the shell connecting terminal h, as shown in FIG. 19, there are disposed a plurality of elastic contact pieces j; and, the open end portions k of the elastic contact pieces j are so formed as to spread wide, so that the elastic contact pieces j can be elastically deformed.
However, because the shell connecting portion i is limited in size, even if the contact pressure is not sufficient, the size of the elastic contact piece j, which is disposed in the shell connecting portion i, cannot be increased over its size limitation, that is, the elastic force of the elastic contact piece J cannot be increased up to a sufficient level.
Also, before the shielding wire d is connected to the shielding connector, the transportation or the like of the shielding wire d is executed in its wound condition. However, there is a fear that, when winding the shielding wire d, the surface of the shielding wire d can be damaged by the open end portions k which are projected externally of the shell connecting portion h.
Further, depending on the shape of the housing a, the shielding shell c may be formed in a prismatic shape. In this case, in order to keep good contact with the prismatic-shaped shielding shelter c, the shell connecting portion i must also be formed in an angular shape.
However, the flat type terminal g is limited in the insertion direction with respect to the terminal storage chamber b, that is, the flat type terminal g has an insertion direction limit with respect to the terminal storage chamber b, and also the shell connecting portion i of the shell connecting terminal h has an insertion direction limit with respect to the prismatic-shaped shielding shell c. Therefore, when connecting the two terminals g and h to the shielding wire d, the connection positions of the two terminals g and h must be matched to each other with accuracy, in particular, after one terminal is connected to the shielding wire d, the other terminal must be connected to the shielding wire d in such a manner that the connection position of the other terminal must be matched accurately to the connection position of the previously connected terminal, namely, one terminal in the peripheral direction thereof. This makes it troublesome to connect the other terminal that is to be mounted later, resulting in the poor efficiency of the terminal connection operation.
Further, conventionally, as a structure for connecting the braided wire of a shielding wire to the shielding shell of a shielding connector, there is known a structure for caulking a connecting terminal to the end portion of the shielding wire. This type of structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-45575 of Heisei; and, in particular, as shown in FIG. 20, a shielding wire 101 is structured such that the periphery of a core wire 102 is covered by an insulating coating 103, the outer periphery of the insulating coating 103 is covered by a braided wire 104 formed by braiding together metal fine wires, and the outer periphery of the braided wire 104 is further covered by an outer coating 105. In the end portion of the shielding wire 101, the outer surface thereof is peeled off starting from the leading end thereof in such a manner that the core wire 102, insulating coating 103, braided wire 104 and outer coating 105 are sequentially exposed in this order; in particular, a receiving tube portion 106 is inserted into between and held by the insulating coating 103 and braided wire 104, and a connecting terminal 107 is caulked from the outer periphery of the braided portion 104 covering the outer periphery of the receiving tube portion 106.
The connecting terminal 107 is structured such that the inner peripheral surface 108 thereof is contacted with the braided wire 104, while the outer peripheral surface 109 thereof is fitted and contacted with the inner periphery of a shielding shell disposed within a connector housing (not shown). Due to this, the braided wire 104 and shielding shell can be connected in conduction to each other through the connecting terminal 107.
By the way, to establish an ideal contact condition between the connecting terminal 107 and braided wire 104, the inner peripheral surface 108 of the connecting terminal 107 may be closely contacted with the braided wire 104. Therefore, it can be imagined that a caulking force used to caulk the connecting terminal 107 is increased to a sufficient degree to thereby caulk the connecting terminal 107 while crushing the same. In this case, the outside diameter of the connecting terminal 107 is caused to vary in a decreasing manner by caulking. However, because the then varying amount of the outside diameter of the connecting terminal 107 cannot be set constant, there is a possibility that the contact state between the outer peripheral surface 109 of the connecting terminal 107 and the inner periphery of the shielding shell can be unstable.
On the other hand, in order to set up an ideal contact state between the shielding shell and connecting terminal 107, if the connecting terminal 107 is caulked such that the outside diameter of the connecting terminal 107 can be constant according to the inside diameter of the shielding shell, then it is difficult to caulk the connecting terminal 107 with a sufficient caulking force. Due to this, there is a possibility that the contact state between the braided wire 104 and the inner peripheral surface 108 of the connecting terminal 107 can be unstable. That is, in the above-cited conventional structure, the above-mentioned two kinds of contact states cannot be made ideal at the same time.